Degeneration
by England's Property
Summary: Donna Noble, former companion to the Doctor, finds herself in the midst of an epic battle when her part-Time Lord brain reawakens and summons the Ninth Doctor.
1. Chapter 1

_Donna Noble, former companion to the Doctor, was currently in her home with her husband Shaun Temple. Her husband was outside doing yard work while she was home resting after a day of shopping, cleaning and the like. She had fallen asleep in her cozy armchair with a book in her lap that she had been reading. Little was she aware of how sudden her life was about to change once more, all because of the Time Lord known as the Doctor._

_Lately Donna had been having terrible nightmares. She had been dreaming of terrible creatures, and far away planets that couldn't possibly exist. And each dream she had there was one man in it. Only it wasn't one man, it was thirteen men, each with a different face but all of whom she knew to be the very same person._

_Having fallen asleep she was experiencing a similar dream once more. There was a man whom she did not recognize. She knew he was the Doctor, but she had never seen this face before. He was running, running as fast as he was able to. He wore a black leather jacket with a red sweatshirt. He had no hair. This man was determined, though, if anything else. Donna recognized the street he was on. It was an off street of London, a back way._

_Donna wasn't sure what compelled her to do so but she decided to run after the Doctor. She tried to scream his name, but no sound came out. After having run for six blocks or so she finally came to a stop to catch her breath. She looked up and saw the all too familiar TARDIS. It wasn't as bright a blue as she had come to known, but it was the very same. Slowly she approached and pushed open the front door. Normally the TARDIS wouldn't open for any but the Doctor, but this time it let Donna enter inside._

_Donna entered inside and looked around to see the all too familiar TARDIS. It looked just the same as her Doctor's, with only minor differences. Donna could feel that the TARDIS was uncomfortable. She wasn't sure how, but she could sense it. The Doctor was at the console, seemingly in an irate mood. "What do you mean you don't know my location?" the Doctor asked. "I'm in London for crying out loud! We haven't even moved yet, you're still in park!"_

"_There is too much interference for an exact location to be given," a robotic voice, the TARDIS intelligence, uttered throughout the interior of the TARDIS._

"_What kind of interference?" the Doctor asked slamming his fist on the dashboard of the console._

"_A Gallifreyan intelligence is on board," the TARDIS replied._

"_Of course there is, it's me!" the Doctor shouted back._

"_In addition to that of the Time Lord known as the Doctor," the TARDIS said._

_The Doctor froze. This was the Doctor fresh out of the Time War knowing all Time Lords to be gone forever. To hear that someone else was on the TARDIS that shared the same DNA as himself was not only an absurd thought, but a terrifying one if true. "I repeat, a Gallifrey intelligence is on board. This intelligence is an immediate threat and should be removed at once."_

_The Doctor stepped down from the console and searched, but could not find where Donna was standing, for it was Donna's part-Time Lord brain that was alerting the TARDIS to her presence. When a Time Lord dreams, even part Time-Lords, their subconscious has the ability to transport that Time Lord throughout space and time to others. It was an ability used in the ancient times and of which was very hard to master._

_Donna walked around the TARDIS doing her best to catch the attention of the Doctor, but to no avail. She decided to sit on the steps that led to the hub of the TARDIS. Usually at this point she woke up from her dream, but something was different this time. As she looked over to the Doctor, her chin resting on her hand, she noticed that he was starting directly where she was sitting. She looked behind her but there was nothing there. The Doctor was staring straight at Donna Noble._

"_Can you see me?" Donna asked. The Doctor slowly nodded. "In every dream I've ever had you've never seen me before. Oh sure the TARDIS knew I was here, but never you!"_

_The Doctor looked upwards. "Is this the threat you were trying to tell me about?" He looked back to Donna. "Because as far as I can tell the only thing threatening about redheads are their personalities."_

"_Oi! Watch it!" Donna retorted. Then suddenly Donna's entire body slowly became transparent. She looked to her hand and saw that it was disappearing._

_The Doctor began to turn a bunch of knobs and type in a bunch of random numbers. "Wasn't expecting this today," the Doctor said just as Donna disappeared. Only Donna wasn't just disappearing, she was waking up. She was back in her home in Cheswick. Her book had fallen to the floor and it was evening instead of early day._

_Donna had all her memories of the Doctor and she wasn't burning up, as had been previously thought. It was at that moment that she heard the all too familiar wheezing sound of the TARDIS. She ran outside ignoring her husband who was shouting after her and within moments she saw the TARDIS appear in the front of her home. Only the Doctor that had stepped out was not the one she had known best, it was the Doctor she had just finished dreaming about. Only know she suspected she hadn't really been dreaming all this time._


	2. Chapter 2

_The Doctor was not a subtle man. When strange occurrences happened he acted swiftly and without hesitation. A link had been created between Donna and the Doctor's TARDIS and through that link the Doctor had managed to trace Donna back to her home moments after she had woken up. Donna had gone outside, her husband shouting after her, having heard the all too familiar wheezing of the TARDIS._

_Sure enough the Doctor was standing just outside his TARDIS a look of confusion yet mild interest as he saw Donna. After what seemed ages the Doctor finally spoke. "Who are you?" he asked._

"_You honestly don't remember me?" Donna replied. "I know regenerations can addle the brain, but usually the majority of memories are retained." Donna was assuming that the Doctor she was talking to was a future version of the one she knew. Donna knew everything about Time Lords now that that part of her brain had reawakened so she found it rather odd that the Doctor seemed to know so little._

_The Doctor wore a stern expression and put some space between himself and Donna. "How is it that you know about regenerations?" he asked. "And why is it my TARDIS views you as a threat?"_

_It was at that moment Donna realized what the issue was. "You are the Doctor, but not a future version of the one I know. You're from his past."_

_The Doctor looked dumbfounded. Never before had he come across such an enigma, and none so colorful as Donna Noble. "The less I know about my future, the better," the Doctor said. He turned to head back into his TARDIS but Donna placed her hand upon him._

"_I've been dreaming about you for a long while now," Donna began to explain. "Every night since you made me forget all about you. No other Doctor has been able to see me, not even your future counterparts. Now explain that."_

"_Fortunately I have the leisure of doing no such thing," the Doctor replied._

"_Don't you get it you dolt?!" Donna said in frustration. "Part of you lives inside of me. That is how I was able to contact you. Nothing short of such a bond could have called out to you from the future."_

_The Doctor thought this over and begrudgingly admitted that she had a point. "What do you want from me?" he asked._

"_Answers," Donna said. "Your future self left me high and dry. I'm sure he thought it was in my best interests, to save me from burning up. But remembering everything now, I'm beginning to think there could have been ways to save me, to retain all those memories without erasing all the good that I had done."_

_The Doctor wasn't sure what to think. "What can I possibly do? It's not as though I can just call myself up in the future and ask what his deal is. Such a thing is forbidden."_

"_First Law of Time," Donna said rolling her eyes. "Believe you me I know. But there must be something…" Donna stopped short when she fell to the ground. Her eyes had rolled to the back of her head and she seemed to be having some sort of fit. The Doctor went to pick her up but a woman had already beaten him to it._

"_Quickly Doctor, get her inside the TARDIS now," the woman said. "If we don't find her help her now she'll burn up completely." The woman who had frizzy, brown hair and a white suit grabbed Donna by the feet while the Doctor lifted Donna by the shoulders and arms completely unaware of who this woman was and why he was listening to her. "Not to mention the imminent threat that called me here in the first place."_

"_Who are you?" the Doctor asked._

"_Oh I'm sorry," the woman said as they placed Donna on the floor of the TARDIS. "I'm River Song, your wife." The Doctor stared at River in immense disbelief just as she went to the TARDIS and began to input coordinates. Even more disbelief the Doctor felt as he saw River piloting the TARDIS, his TARDIS._

_Elsewhere an elite group of agents were holding a meeting ready to set about a plan that would set off a chain reaction. The head member, Vincent Demoi', was leading the meeting. "As I was saying," Vincent continued, "we must put an end to our program. Firstly, rogue Time Agents are beginning to change too many events. Just last week a Time Agent intervened with Pompeii somehow managing to get every last person off that island. It took quite an effort for us to restore the past."_

"_We can't shut it down now," said another member, a woman by the name of Elise Stout. "After all of our efforts, why?"_

_Vincent sighed and looked across at the six other members. "We must end the program. If we do not then Jack Harkness will not be the last Time Agent to be hunted down and murdered." _

_There was a collective gasp amongst the other agents. A man by the name of Bertrand Higgins stood up in outrage. "Jack Harkness left our agency ages ago. If death truly has befallen him, then that is not on us." There was a murmur of agreement, though not by all._

_Vincent pressed a button and several images appeared in their conference room. Each was of a different Time Agent, Jack Harkness among them, and also each of which had an attached file with their personal information. "Due to the intervening of our agents an unknown group of vigilantes have been hunting them down. Jack included among them, but he is not the only one that has been killed. Therefore we must put a stop to our program, call in the remaining agents that we can." Vincent looked to the former agents then back to the group. "There are few remaining Time Agents left. It is up to us to put a stop to these vigilantes."_


	3. Chapter 3

_The Ninth Doctor was watching River fly the TARDIS with intense determination and extreme focus. Donna continued to burn up, her temperature rising and the Doctor was unsure of what to do. Within a short time span two strange women have crossed the Doctor's path. They had made outrageous claims but none as strange as others he has heard in the past._

"_Just where are we heading to?" the Doctor asked once more. River had been silent the moment she began to fly the TARDIS._

"_None of your other incarnations were quite so inquisitive as you," River commented. The Doctor rolled his eyes._

_Not before too long the TARDIS came to a stop. The Doctor tried to make out the time and location but River didn't give him the chance. She went to his side and helped him lift Donna up. Together they exited the TARDIS to find themselves in an immaculate white building, hallways lined with dozens of rooms._

"_Where are we?" the Doctor asked as they made their way to a woman sitting at a receptionist's desk at the very end of the hallway._

"_In all your travels, Doctor, you mean to tell me that you've never come to Saint Christina's?" River said in disbelief. The receptionist, having seen the trio, had sent a gurney down with a young man._

"_Conditions?" the man asked._

_River looked to the Doctor, then back to the young man. "She is burning up. A part of her brain is suffering massive overload from contact with an alien." She made it clear not to mention that that alien was the Doctor. The young man nodded and carried Donna away. The two then met with the receptionist to answer a few basic questions to admit Donna. After doing so the two began to tour the hospital, which the Doctor was finding entirely fascinating._

_River had explained just exactly who she was and that in the future he would come to know so much more about her. The Doctor's first reaction to River had been of the utmost contempt, that some rogue Time Agent had set a trap for him. But seeing the painful expression upon Donna's face and the extreme concern that River had for her, he knew River's words to be the truth._

_As River and the Doctor rounded the corner River saw something that made her heart stop for just half a second. Immediately she grabbed the Doctor and pulled him back against a wall. "What did you do that for?" the Doctor asked._

_River's chest was moving rapidly. She calmed down enough to tell the Doctor, "I've no idea why but one of your future counterparts is here with one of his companions." The Doctor tried to look around the corner but River stopped him short._

"_Don't be daft!" River said. "You know the risks. Now quickly, go see what they are doing for Donna. We'll meet up later. I know how to handle this regeneration all too well." The Doctor nodded and quickly ran down the hallway, taking a left to get back to the antechamber._

_River fixed her hair and straightened her suit. She then stepped out in front of the Eleventh Doctor who was with Clara Oswald. The Eleventh Doctor's jaw dropped. Clara's face was pure confusion. It was evident that these two knew River Song to be dead. "Hello sweetie," River said, a widespread smile across her face._

_Dumbfounded, though quickly returning to his usual self, the Eleventh Doctor took River aside and grilled her to find out how she was able to phase out of her secure stasis at The Library. He had ensured after their last goodbye that the connection he shared with her would be forever severed._

"_I may very well ask what you are doing here as well," River conceded. "Nothing in all my time has indicated to me that you and Clara ever came here."_

_The Doctor looked to River in bewilderment. "You say that as though you keep tabs on us," he said._

_River shrugged. "Perhaps. But even so, what are you doing here?"_

"_It seems time is being tampered with on a massive scale," the Doctor replied. "Enough so that normal humans can't detect anything, but," the Doctor was cut off by River._

"_Enough so that time travelers notice," River said._

"_I know very few out there with the power to time travel," the Doctor explained. "I make it a duty of mine to keep tabs on some of these so called 'Time Agents', especially since I ran into one a couple regenerations back." He looked around and then asked River, "Does the name Captain Jack Harkness ring any bells?"_

_River mulled that name over, and then smiled. "A few, yes."_

"_I should have known," the Doctor said, shaking his head. "Well be that as it may, it's been a while since I've seen old Jacky and rumor has it that he's on the run from Torchwood."_

"_You think he's behind these time disturbances?" River asked._

_The Doctor shook his head. "That's not in Jack's nature. No, I don't believe he's behind this, but I do believe he is somehow connected."_

"_So how did that bring you here?" River asked, clearly intrigued._

"_It didn't," the Doctor said. "This did." He then held up a device all too familiar to River. It was a sonic blaster, the very same blaster that Captain Jack had used and also the one that River had taken from aboard the TARDIS. "Before belonging to you it was property of Jack Harkness. Connecting it to my TARDIS I programmed it to go to its previous owner's last known location, which is here."_

_River looked to the Doctor in immense sarcasm. "Are you sure it didn't just lock on to me?"_

_Then from just past the two there was a loud scream. It was Clara. River and the Doctor ran to her aid, but it was too late. A man dressed in a red hooded robe, so that his face was covered, could be seen pulling Clara towards the Doctor's TARDIS. The man took Clara's hand and placed it on the TARDIS, the door opening willingly. He then ducked inside with Clara. Just before River and the Doctor reached the TARDIS it disappeared, along with Clara and the stranger._

_The Doctor was beyond furious. He screamed endlessly. He took out his sonic screwdriver and pressed as many different combinations as he could, but still the TARDIS did not return. He began to talk to himself. "Something is wrong, something is not right. Time disturbances, not right." He kept repeating the same phrases over and over again until River placed a hand on the Doctor's shoulder._

"_Doctor, calm yourself. We can fix this," River said._

_He looked up to River, wanting so badly to believe her words but unsure of how they could possibly be true. "The TARDIS is gone, we've no means to go after Clara."_

"_I wouldn't be too sure of that," River said. The Doctor's expression then became cautious. "Come with me," she replied, about to lead him to his past self._


	4. Chapter 4

_River had led the Doctor down back to the main part of the hospital. From there she took him to the room Donna was staying in. She waited outside the room and motioned for the Doctor to head inside. Slowly he entered the room and the sight he saw froze him in place. Donna Noble, a woman of whom he already carried immense guilt for, was lying in a bed, tubes attached to nearly every part of her body. At the end of the bed, sitting in a chair was two regenerations of himself prior._

_Their eyes met and immediately the Eleventh doctor left the room and pinned River against the wall. "What the hell did you do!?" he asked River, furious._

_River had never seen the Doctor react like this towards something she had done. She was momentarily speechless. "I had no part in this. Donna called out to him and somehow managed to summon him. I don't understand it in the slightest."_

_The Doctor rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands, unsure of what to do. That is when his past self came out to see if everything was okay. The Eleventh Doctor looked to the Ninth and pointed a finger at him. "You aren't supposed to be here. What are you doing here?"_

_The Ninth Doctor studied his future self. "So this is who I become?"_

"_Your anger hasn't changed much," River noted. Suddenly she asked the Eleventh Doctor, "How is it you don't remember any of this?"_

_The Ninth Doctor was the first to reply. "You know that time isn't a straight line. It can twist into any shape or form." _

"_Time is definitely being tampered with on a massive scale," the Eleventh Doctor agreed. "But my companion has been taken from me, and as much as I hate to admit it, I need your help in getting her back."_

"_Such a thing is forbidden. This conversation shouldn't even be happening," the Ninth Doctor said._

"_Alright that is it!" River exclaimed turning to the Ninth Doctor. "I know you feel guilty over what you did to Gallifrey, which explains why your incarnation in particular seems to be the crabbiest, but there's something you must know."_

_Unsure of how River knew what had happened with his past incarnations, the Eleventh Doctor tried to quiet her, but she wouldn't be silenced. "Gallifrey didn't burn, it was saved. In fact you helped save it, but due to the time streams being out of sync you were unable to remember doing so."_

"_River enough!" the Eleventh Doctor exclaimed._

"_No no, if you are seeking my help I deserve to know something as big as this," the Ninth Doctor said, nudging River out of the way. "How is it Gallifrey was saved? I've received no indications, not one that the planet remains let alone a single moon from it."_

"_Stasis cubes," the Eleventh Doctor sighed. _

_The Ninth Doctor was quiet for a moment. "Stasis cubes? But that would place Gallifrey in an alternate universe at best, wouldn't it? I mean there's no guarantee they could return."_

"_There is a lot you will come to learn," the Eleventh Doctor said. "But in the meantime, something greater is coming to pass. And though you wouldn't be my first choice, I need your help. My TARDIS has been taken, along with a good friend of mine. Will you help me?"_

_The Ninth Doctor looked to Donna, then to his future self. "I will do what I can." He then turned to River. "Will you make sure she is safe? I don't know her very well, but I'd hate for her to die because of me."_

_River nodded. "I will remain here until you both return." He nodded in appreciation._

_The Eleventh Doctor then grabbed River by the arm and whispered into her ear, "You escaped The Library, and I will find out how the moment I come back."_

_River smiled up to him. "I'm sure by the time you return you'll have already discovered why."_

_The Eleventh Doctor followed his past self to the TARDIS. "Bit dusty in here don't you think?" the Eleventh doctor asked. The Ninth Doctor ignored his comment. "You're right, we should focus. We need to find out where my TARDIS currently is. That way we can track it and find Clara."_

"_How do you plan on doing that?" nine asked._

_Eleven smiled and took out a small device that both recognized. "In case the TARDIS is ever stolen we have a small chip attached to our sonic screwdriver that, if we come in possession of another TARDIS said device can be placed on the dashboard and will lock on to the TARDIS of which it came off of."_

_He handed it to nine who then placed it on a white square that was on the dashboard of the console. Above the white square was a grey button that nine then pressed. Immediately a small blip appeared on one of the many screens. It was moving rapidly. "Have you any idea where that is?" nine asked._

_Eleven studied the blip trying to figure out the coordinates that they were being shown. "I have an idea, but I hope I am wrong." The two Doctors then entered in the coordinates and began to pilot the TARDIS together, heading off to go and save Clara. Little were the Doctors unaware of what was already unfolding._

_Far away on an unknown distant planet, the Eleventh Doctor's TARDIS came to a grinding halt. It was being forced to land against its will. Clara had been knocked out but was slowly coming to trying to find the mysterious person whom had kidnapped her and the Doctor's TARDIS. She slowly stood up and saw the hooded, red figure._

_Speaking a quiet, raspy voice the stranger said, "Greetings, Clara Oswald. Companion to the thirteenth incarnation of the Time Lord known as the Doctor. You are part of something far more greater than yourself."_

"_Who are you!?" Clara asked. "Where are we?"_

"_All in good time, Ms. Oswald. But first there is someone I'd like to introduce you to," the stranger said. He then opened the door to the TARDIS and grabbed Clara by the wrist, leading her into a giant room. It was empty save for two chairs in the middle of the room, only one already occupied. The stranger led Clara to the second chair, strapping her in._

_Stepping back the stranger began to laugh. "Clara Oswald, I'd like to introduce you to your cellmate, as it were. Rose Tyler." _


	5. Chapter 5

_Rose Tyler had been at work when a triad of shadows had appeared before her. Her mother's husband was the owner of the shop and was in need of a general manager, which Rose had kindly accepted. Her husband, which was a duplicate of the tenth doctor, was currently at home watching his and Rose's child, Lily. He was completely unaware of the danger that his wife was in._

"_What is it you want from me?" Rose shouted to the shadows. She had been cornered into an alleyway a few blocks from her place of work. The largest shadow extended an arm and pointed directly at Rose. "Me? What do you want me for?" she asked. The shadows remained silent as they moved in closer._

_Rose slowly raised her hand to her ear and removed the piercing she had. She tossed it passed the shadows and the single earring caused a flash of light to appear. It lasted only seconds but long enough for Rose to run past the shadows to try to make it back home. After running for several blocks, not looking back to see if the shadows were following her, she came to a stop at an intersection. She was just about to cross the street when she saw a strange cloaked figure enter a building just across the street._

_Quickly she went inside but found that it was completely empty. It was intensely cold inside the building, as though she were in some sort of frozen warehouse. Rose looked around for the stranger until a voice from above caught her by surprise. "Greetings, Rose Tyler."_

_She looked up to see a man in red robes. She couldn't make out his face, but she recognized that voice, though she wasn't sure from where. "Believe you me, entering your universe was no easy task. But I can assure you that my efforts are not without reason."_

_Rose made towards the man but found that she was frozen in place. "Immediate force field placed upon you the moment you come within fifty feet of me. Rather useful trick I've acquired to be quite honest with you. But look at me, I'm prattling on."_

"_I'll say," Rose said, attempting to move her body but to no avail._

"_As we speak my friends that you encountered at your place of work are traveling back through the passage I created to come and fetch you," the man said. "Big things are beginning to happen, Ms. Tyler. But I wanted to fetch you myself, considering you and I have a history together."_

_The man lowered his hood to reveal himself. Rose saw his face and though it had been years since she last saw this man, his was a face she would never forget. "Adam…is that you?" she asked._

_He began to laugh. "You do remember me, then."_

"_Hard to forget the one person the Doctor kicked out of the TARDIS," Rose said. "The one who messed up so greatly that the compassion of the Doctor could not be found for him."_

_Immediately Adam Mitchell wore a face of contempt. "The Doctor left with alien technology still inside me, meant to walk around with a terrible burden I was forced to keep secret." He began to encircle Rose. "But no matter, this technology has helped me on a massive level."_

"_Helped you?" Rose questioned._

"_Indeed. For years I watched as you and the Doctor traveled together while I was left behind. But as the years went on I began to notice others with the Doctor," Adam explained. "You had simply vanished with no rhyme nor reason. It took a fair amount of research but I finally realized what had happened."_

"_That being?" Rose asked._

"_You were left behind on this pathetic excuse for a planet," Adam said. "I've researched this world and there's not much it offers. But alas," he suddenly said, "you had managed to return home. With all the planets in the sky I thought what better time than that to put my plan into motion. But that ignorant buffoon Davros ruined it when his reality bomb was put into effect."_

"_What do you mean he ruined it?" Rose asked, curiosity getting the better of her._

"_That matters not," Adam said. "More to the point is now that I've found you, Rose Tyler, the plan can move forward."_

_He snapped his fingers and behind Rose the door she had entered through seemed to brighten though a bright light shining through the cracks. Adam suddenly appeared next to Rose and walked past her towards the door. "There are others that my shadows are collecting, so we best hurry." Rose seemed to gravitate towards Adam at that point, the two heading towards the door._

"_What is that?" Rose asked as Adam opened the door revealing a swirling light purple vortex._

"_A passage back to Earth, the real Earth," Adam explained. "Are you ready to see the Doctor again? The real Doctor, by the way, not that genetic mutation you're mating with."_

_Rose was trying her best to hold back tears, not wanting to show Adam her one weakness which was exactly what he was about to show her. "Let's see how much dear old Doctor has changed." And the two of them then walked into the passage of light, traveling back to Rose's home planet._


End file.
